Lengths of communications cables are connected together in the field at splice locations. A variety of connectors have been made available in the marketplace for splicing together pluralities of insulated conductors without the necessity of removing the insulation from the conductors. One such connector is disclosed and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,158 which issued on Dec. 31, 1974 in the names of R. W. Henn et al. The above-identified patented connector includes an elongated index strip for holding a plurality of insulated conductors of a first cable in a spaced array and a connector module which includes a plurality of bifurcated beam type metallic contact elements. When the connector module is assembled to the index strip, end portions of the contact elements become electrically connected to the conductors of the first cable held in the index strip. Then, the conductors from a second cable are assembled to the connector module so that the opposite end portions of the contact elements are electrically connected to them and hence to the conductors of the first cable.
Generally, the splicing is accomplished by installers who use a tool such as that shown in E. Becker et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,148,138 which issued on Apr. 10, 1979, to assemble corresponding pluralities of insulated conductors of cable ends to a connector. Such an operation is expensive and at times is carried out under somewhat trying conditions such as in a manhole, for example.
While the Henn et al connector has been found to be well adapted to the splicing of cables in the field, much attention has been given to the connection of cable ends to connectors within a factory environment prior to shipping. The factory connectorization of cable ends results in an economical splicing technique in which an installer in the field merely assembles together the components of a connector system without the need for assembling the conductors to the components.
It has been found that the above-identified Henn et al connector system is easily adaptable to the factory connectorization of cable ends. However, special steps must be taken to insure that the conductors remain secured to the connector components during shipment of the cable for if they become separated, the factory connectorization will have saved nothing. This is no problem in the connector module since the conductors are held not only between plastic teeth which grip the conductors but also because each conductor is held within a slot of the bifurcated beam of a contact element. On the other hand, the security of the conductors to the index strip relies only on the capability of teeth between which the conductors are disposed to grip the conductor ends. This would present no problem if only one gauge conductor were to be spliced by this particular connector, but since it must serve to splice several gauge sizes, dependence on the grip by adjacent teeth alone is imprudent.
In order to solve this problem, modifications to the index strip as shown in the Henn et al patent have been introduced. Specifically, the index strip has been formed to include a shelf extending from one side with a plurality of grooves formed therealong and aligned with the conductor-receiving slots between the plastic teeth in the original design strip. Conductor ends are moved into the slots between the teeth and then routed into those in the shelf. Then an elongated retainer strip having a plurality of spaced ribs formed therealong is assembled to the index strip so that each rib is moved into an associated shelf groove and into engagement with the conductor end therein. The dimensions of the retainer strip ribs and the shelf grooves are such that the retainer strip remains secured to the shelf in an interference fit, thereby securing the conductors to the index strip.
While the foregoing arrangement overcomes the problem of retaining conductors in the index strip during shipment, it requires another component which introduces additional expense. What is needed and what is not provided by the prior art is an arrangement for securing a plurality of conductors to a connector component without the need for additional parts and with a minimum of labor.